Rani's Return - For the Love of Science
by JM Arrow
Summary: The Rani has returned with a new, edgier and competitive incarnation and one of the most powerful Tardises invented. Being the formidable biologist she is, she travels to Cardiff to kidnap one of the most brilliant scientists from the now defunct Torchwood. However one thing she hasn't expected is running into The Doctor and her team.
1. Chapter 1

She wasn't around when Gallifrey fell.

Everyone thought she was under house arrest, pottering around in her chambers, building restricted biological experiments sometimes (unofficially) for the President himself. After a while the requests died down. She grew bored. Government projects weren't the only thing to keep her busy. Someone had snuck in the plans for a new ship. She had charmed her way through it, taking in the aspects of what it entailed, pretending that only The Doctor would be able to build such a thing. Had it been the old slabs of metal and parts from a junkyard that most indeed would've been the case. But this was much closer to her forte.

_'A home closer to you more than ever before.'_

Who would've thought of that. All you needed was a little timelord regeneration power linked to an interdimensional teleporting room. Timelord science and biology using space and time to create a new ship that was an extension of the person in charge of it. It took up most of her lives but finally she perfected it. Her key was her body, a permenant source of regeneration energy that she sometimes stored in the form of a weapon or jewellery constantly wrapped around her arm and forever linked to her life and soul. Once she had worked out how to teleport in and out of her home it had been easy to pretend she was there. The timelords guarding her safely from outside her lab never questioned the large source of energy seeping through the door cracks-after all, it was her job.

During her little escapades she had gained popularity or notoriety amongst small civilisations, using cloning biology to amass armies to the highest bidder. She shrugged off the genocide of the weaker race. Mother Nature didn't have to be nice, she did what was necessary. At one point she had even fallen in love, a combination of confused cells and feelings. A beautiful Canadian space traveller called Reed had always asked her out for a date and she had always refused. Instead Reed was kept as shipmate as she was impossible to get rid of , for a while anyway.

Reed had died before she could ever get that proper date. Reed, her broken spacesuit and her rebellious nineteen nineties Earth clothes floating in space, drowned in ice.

In the wardrobe chambers of her new ship and now permanent home, The Rani flicked her hair back, a long dark glossy mane. She checked out her new appearance which was merely an age reversal more than an actual incarnation. The gold rays of regeneration energy surrounded her like glowing dust, only more appealing.  
She smiled at her reflection, revealing perfect white teeth. For a while she preened. This was her last incarnation, her ability being to regenrate at will hampered by exposure to the chemicals of her experiements. She had manipulated regenerational energy to reverse her age but after this life, that was it. Her regenerations had ranged from Gallifreyen warriors to Tongan princesses. Now she sported an athletic form of an Asian woman with severe but striking features. Not bad. Her eyes were unusually large and slanted, her nose slightly hooked and her mouth serious and sensual. Cheekbones were prominent, and her figure had a generous portion of curves and muscle. On one side of her head, she had shaved off long lustrous waves of dark pink hair (she always liked pink) and her name in Gallifreyen was tattoed on her scalp.

In the closet before her were Reed's spare clothes. A pair of leather trousers and her jacket. She hugged the jacket close and closed her eyes. She could still smell Reed and her perfume and sweat. She tried the jacket on, fitting a little loosely but it would have to do. She choose a pair of boots with the toughest sole edged with metal and wore them over tight black leather jeans.

This will do. She stroked the lapel of Reed's jacket one last time before heading out of the door back to the control room. Like her original Tardis which had been confiscated, the interior was a mixture of black, silver and grey, with walls of circular panels and square grey pillars displaying rare biological specimens. There was even a fake console just for all times sake, the edges resembling a bracelet of Hematite beads. Why change something if it was fine in the first place.

'Reed'. The Rani called out

'Heya, babe.' The Tardis replied in the deceased woman's voice.

'I told you not to call me that', she whispered under her breath. She would have to get that fixed somehow.

'Where would you like to go this time?'The Tardis chirped.

'Earth, circa 2037'

The computer paused for a little.

'Are you sure? That's-'

'Yes I know. She's precisely why we need to go. She belongs here.'

'Are you forgetting all about me, babe?' the Tardis said, genuinely affronted.

The Rani cursed herself for uploading a realistic conscious onto the Tardis communication system. It was a good thing it couldn't see her-she had chose that setting otherwise she'd never be able to have a bath in peace without flirtatious comments. It wouldn't do well knowing that The Rani was now also wearing Reed's clothing.

And it still had called her Babe even when instructed not to.

'How can I ever forget you?' said The Rani smoothly, 'You've always been a part of me.'

The Tardis may aswell have purred all the way to Cardiff. A projection of a beautiful woman with shoulder length dark hair and Eurasian features appeared between the silver hoops slowly twirling in synchronisation in the centre of the console. Brains and beauty-the winning combination.

'I'm coming for you, girl' murmured the Rani.


	2. Chapter 2

****Cardiff, 17th May 2042****

Mayumi took one last drag of her cigarette. The glowing tip was dangerously close to her porcelain white skin, which covered a beautiful round face with model like cheekbones and a delicately shaped nose and mouth. She had inherited her father's eyes and freckles and people had always questioned her at school asking why her name was 'Japanesey' when her eyes weren't. Dad wouldn't be too happy if he knew his daughter's twenty cigarettes a day habit.

She stood outside the hidden entrance of the Torchwood quarters, it's silver tower warped like melted plastic. The perception filter was ruined, the ground a gaping hole and the lift shaft she remembered as a kid stood in disarray with a dead pterodactyl on the platform. The stink was enough to keep anyone away, down to UNIT who had reassembled for gas masks. Mayumi scoffed at their cowardice, but felt a hint of sadness at the reptile's demise. It had been bred to live for hundreds of years, yet had only lived just over half it's lifespan. It's life had ended early, just like hers, after the death of her parents. They were a loving family all those years ago, before tragedy had struck.

Now after years of being on the run in different continents, she could finally use her real name. Mayumi Sato-Harper, chief scientist of Earth's restructure was a complicated figure. Not in the logical sense-both her parents were brilliant scientists. But she knew what her fellow humans were saying about her. A hater of her own species. An evil bitch. A heartless waste of space. Those in higher circles shrugged her off as being a maverick - what else would you expect from the offspring of members of an agency that meddled with alien matters. That was no way to bring up a child. Not that mum and dad had raised her in Torchwood headquarters. She had only moved in towards the end of their days as their homes were no longer safe.

Mayumi allowed herself one more twinge of sadness looking at her old home before turning away. There was no time. No time to grieve and definitely no time to remember what was long gone.


	3. Chapter 3

'Doctor!'

The Doctor pretended not to hear as she finished soldering a slipped wire underneath the Tardis floorboards. She began to hum an improvised dirge which she failed to identify.

'Doctor!' Yasmin ran in, looking a little lost. 'Have you seen my new jacket anywhere?'

The Doctor strayed a little longer checking the already fixed wire. Not again.

'No.' Repeat after me, young' un, I am not your mother. Being a Space Dad was bad enough.

Yasmin gasped exasperated. 'I am sure I left it on the coat hanger.' She exaggerated on each syllable at top speed.

Ryan who had his feet up in the far corner of the room stifled a giggle as he continued reading a book on Gallifreyen mechanics.

'You know where it is, don't you.' accused Yasmin and pointed at him.

'Your jacket stank. It made you look like a Yeti. It smelt like one!'

Yasmin's mouth dropped open 'You are so rude.'

'It did' insisted Ryan. He looked to the Doctor for support who had suddenly found a toolbox and was noisily clunking the contents of it, reciting the name of each and every item to block out the argument. He looked back at his page and tilted the back of his chair with his weight. 'Graham chucked it in the wash.'

'What? But my phone, my wallet, my PHONE.' Yasmin, threw up her hands, 'Why-'

The Doctor sighed as she marched to the console, threw open a panel and slapped down a phone and wallet with a fat set of keys on the dashboard. 'Phone, keys, wallet. Rule of thumb is to always check pockets if you have them in the first place.'

'She's only angry about her phone,' said Ryan 'waiting for a text from –' he didn't finish as he ducked from a bunch of keys being thrown at him.

The Doctor ignored the brewing argument and set the coordinates for a smooth ride to California, circa 2001. It was high time they all had a quick break after the last mission. She frowned as the Tardis shuddered and the coordinates veered instead towards Cardiff, year 2037.


	4. Chapter 4

****North West London, 18th May 2037****

The Chief of Public Security made a statement today.

Mayumi shook her head in disagreement as he announced the destruction of Torchwood quarters. A crackdown on vagabond technologists and terrorists he had said.

'That wasn't my intention' she muttered. She braced herself for a backlash from not only the general ignorant public but her own fellow scientists.

_Stupid humans._

The country had taken a right wing turn and never recovered from it when she was a teenager. It had been snow flaked into fear of other countries, let alone extra-terrestrials. She had remembered it had taken away both her parents in a pub fight that had erupted over all things, the Olympics. China had done their thing in winning in a few bat games. A drunk had approached her mother, asking if she was proud of herself. Her dad had stood up for her. The drunk man was part of a passing Nazi gang and saw Owen as a traitor to his race and Tosh as weak 'Oriental' bait. This didn't sit well with a group of inebriated thugs who overpowered both special agents with drunk courage.

Her parents had only gone out for a pint and returned dead.

Mayumi then moved to Japan after their funeral. She stayed with her relatives now and then but couldn't stand the sight of seeing anything or anyone that reminded her of her mum, including her own retired Gran who had decorated her home with pictures of Toshiko everywhere and worst of all, a large wedding photo of Mayumi's parents. She begged to go to the international university which was two cities away, which her grandmother agreed to. It seemed the feeling was mutual-her grand daughter though more like a cross between her father and a relative generations away, moved and acted a lot like Toshiko, which was painful. Cutting a university course short in Biophysics which Mayumi excelled in, she worked on trivial inventions which did well with the smaller technology companies. After a while she left and travelled from country to country until Captain Jack tracked her down and assigned her to UNIT's protection in Dubai.

It wasn't intentional.

She had done well in both mechanics and as she later found out when immediately attending to injured UNIT soldiers, had a knack with medicine. Soon she was dissecting Cybermen technology and fusing it with test subjects.

They were only humans. Humans who had killed her parents. She had handpicked the test subjects herself, from the lawyer who had defended her parent's murderers in court to the yobs that had killed them.

Another scientist on a temporary assignment caught on this and before he disappeared had released a dossier that UNIT had been picking on innocent civilians for warfare technology.

At the request of the government Mayumi had been told to cease all projects linked to the government, secret or otherwise. UNIT couldn't afford to let her go-she was too gifted. She was given her own faction in the outskirts of London, funded by a middleman closely known to UNIT. Some had said she had set up her own Torchwood science lab. Every alien attack that would partake she would clean up the mess, inventing masses of memory gas for suburban homes to forget extra-terrestrial activity and converting alien technology into weaponry meant for UNIT, but she knew deep in her heart it would sometimes be for something else. When she was promoted to Chief Scientist of Earth's Restructure program after a series of alien attacks, she finally found out where her inventions had been used and what had happened to civilians affected by her chemicals. None of the results were biologically positive. She felt guilty but what was done, was done. People hated her for her brilliant mind saying that she should be shipped off back to China where they had no human rights to begin with.

If only people would understand, she thought, I didn't mean to hurt anyone.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the phone rang.

'Miss Sato-Harper?' the new lad from UNIT was on the other line, attempting a professional tone.

'Yes.'

'Your new advisor is here.'

'I didn't ask for a new advisor'. She thought and sighed inwardly. 'Fine, I'm on my way.'

She parked outside her laboratory, a warehouse in Middlesex which was formerly a block of apartments from the 1920s. She hated the art deco and held back a torrent of abuse as some joker had left a blue telephone box in her usual parking spot. By the time she got to her office, her new advisor was waiting for her, peering curiously at the test subjects lying on the slabs. She frowned at the sight, wondering if management had been playing a prank. This was the icing on the cake.

'Hi', said the alleged prank, 'I'm Dorothy Gale'

Outside the ugly building, marked with a nondescript signboard reading SHarper Innovations, Yasmin pulled the borrowed beige cricket blazer closer to her and shivered. She picked out the wilted dry stick of celery out of the front pocket and made a face. Why couldn't they stay in Cardiff? The Doctor looked around in dismay as much as her. North Middlesex wasn't a pretty sight. Ryan took in the large building before him and the grey streets that differed little from the clouds.

'Cardiff was better,' he said.

Graham grunted in agreement.

'Come on then,' said The Doctor sardonically, 'let explore this pretty palace.'

They were stopped immediately at the entrance by a sharp looking receptionist with a heavy North West London accent. She looked at the them with thinly hidden scrutiny and with attempted polite mannerisms implied that the building wasn't open to visitors. Her eyebrow raised slightly at the psychic paper The Doctor produced.

'We already have a scientific advisor' said the receptionist, 'Same branch as you.' She sneered at the affronted looks the visitors gave her. 'Dorothy Gale?' she spelt out each syllable. 'She arrived this morning.'

The Doctor's mouth dropped open and she beamed. 'Excellent! Well looks like a massive project then, needing more than one scientific advisor.' She held up her psychic paper again, hoping that it now read the supervisory department above Dorothy Gale. It seemed to have worked as the receptionist began to show signs of some emotion and spoke to someone else on the phone who instructed her to let the visitors through.

'Friendly, isn't she' said Graham deliberately within earshot.

'Hush now, I'm sure she gets enough compliments,' said The Doctor as they crossed the L shaped hall to a large panel of grey marble housing a few lifts.

They waited in silence for the lift until it arrived and slunk in. 'Weirdos and Freaks' said the receptionist to herself in a singsong tone quite loudly. After the doors closed they erupted into laughter.

Minutes later, The Doctor marched purposely out of the lift making Yasmin run after her.

'What's the big rush?' asked Yasmin

'Everything is always a rush,' grinned The Doctor as she spotted the door labelled Mayumi Sato Harper. It was from a pair of clear swing doors leading to a half full laboratory full of mechanical equipment and chemical vials. She could already see the black leather jacket and ponytail. 'Ace' she laughed.

She strode in and immediately sensed something was wrong but pushed the feeling aside. Good old Dorothy Ace Gale, doing well for herself.

The woman in the leather jacket and ponytail turned to face her.

So that's what was wrong. Not the woman who definitely was not her old companion, but the psychic link between the two Time Lords.

'You!' exclaimed The Doctor.

The Rani, in her fake name badge, looked at her old friend and enemy up and down, clocking in her outfit and snorted.

'Least I'm not wearing a gimpsuit', muttered The Doctor.

'Excuse me?' said The Rani genuinely offended. She psychically thought up a harsh insult in Gallifreyen. The Doctor transferred back another thought about how tacky it was to tattoo your name on your head.

She caught look at the real reason why she was here. A petite and angular shaped woman standing next to The Rani stared at the new visitor puzzledly.

'Hi, I'm The Doctor. You must be Mayumi Sato-Harper. This is my team.'

'Sorry, but what are you here for?' asked Mayumi. The day for her wasn't going well. She wanted things to go smoothly just for once and all of a sudden five strangers had turned up in her lab.

'Oh I'm Dorothy's colleague. Supervisor in fact. We've got quite abit to catch up on, do you mind if I borrow her for abit?' Without waiting for an answer, she dragged The Rani away from the scene and left the rest of the team to speak to Mayumi. Yasmin led the conversation, in an attempt to cover Graham and Ryan's shock at the test subjects around them. Good ole Yaz, could always depend on her.

'What are you doing here?' hissed The Doctor.

'Nice to see you too, alive and well.' replied The Rani

'You're supposed to be on-'

'House arrest. Yes, I got rather bored.' She turned to the Doctor 'and considering what _you_ had to do back home, I don't think you ought to be talking about arrests.'

'You know I had no choice.' The two stood looking at each other for what seemed like forever.

'Is this the bit where you give me a hug?' asked The Rani, breaking the silence.

'Doctor', called Ryan from the other side of the room.

'In abit!' yelled back The Doctor. They both looked at Mayumi. The Doctor turned to The Rani. 'You're here for her, aren't you? Collecting brains again are you?'

'My ship's down. I need it repaired.'

'You could've asked me!'

'I don't even have your number.' cooed The Rani

Exasperated at the unexpected reunion, The Doctor decided to head back to her team. She turned to face The Rani again. 'You are not collecting anyone's brains under my watch. Not even the ones in the pickle jar. Is that understood?'

The Rani scoffed. 'I'm not here to dissect anyone. That's her job.' She indicated at Mayumi. 'Amongst many other talents, she really is quite amazing, for an ape.' She smiled wholeheartedly at Mayumi who smiled nervously back from across the room. 'See? She trusts me. It's awfully difficult to gain the trust of the truly intelligent.' She looked back The Doctor 'So maybe _you_ should tell me what you're doing here with your little team of companions.'

'They're my friends,' asserted The Doctor.

'Tsk. I was your friend once.'

'You don't have any friends, Ushas' The Rani winced at her real name, 'You have experiments.' With that The Doctor beat The Rani to it as she re-joined the group including Mayumi.


	5. Chapter 5

The Rani returned to the laboratory hours after The Doctor had dismissed her under 'supervisors orders'. Noting that Mayumi lacked trust, she had agreed to disperse, keeping an eye on The Doctor's ancient ship from an open window of her home. Luckily chameleon settings ran on relatively low energy. The Rani was using hers as a parked Lamborghini which wasn't the best of choices as it caught the attention of the older companion, Graham. Luckily she was distant enough for The Doctor not to pick up another psychic trail. She heard snatches of conversation coming from the team. They ranged from questioning The Doctor about her punk rocker old friend to not understanding why they were here. The Doctor in her usual style gave her answers in short sentences, revealing nothing but the need to be here. She materialised the Tardis back into the building after making sure The Doctor would not return for the evening.

The Rani strolled into the lab, unsurprised at seeing Mayumi working alone. She had the markings of a late worker. A transferred set of test subjects lay on the tables, joined to a newly set up mass of wires and machinery.

'Oh, you're still here', remarked Mayumi, 'I, er, told your colleagues to leave. Security and all that.'

'Sorry' The Rani apologised 'I was told to come back here to help with the volunteers.' She noted Mayumi's reluctance. 'My supervisor's great at physics, but I'm in charge of the biology division where we work. Is there anything I can do? Otherwise I can leave you in peace' she grinned.

Mayumi thought for a while before assigning her to final checks on the volunteers. The Rani nodded and began checking for vital signs on each test subject, reassuring Mayumi before she turned and went back to programming their bodies with simple codes. She felt sad, suspecting the true intentions of her current project assigned by an unknown client.

'You're wasted here' remarked The Rani as she took her time in rewiring a circuit to a sleeping volunteer. Before the person could murmur in pain, the Rani covered his mouth with her hand.

Mayumi sighed as she finished connected a wire without mistake to another volunteer. She busied over her laptop, keying in patient progress as she spoke. 'There's nothing much more I can do out there. I'm tied to this job until the day I die.' She ended her sentence with bored melancholy.

'I know a few places that would take you.' The Rani applied her fingers deftly to a pressure point in her volunteer's temple, sending him into a deep sleep.

Mayumi chuckled, unconvinced and unaware of The Rani's patient bedside manner. 'Really? Where?'

'Well I have a spaceship for starters.'

'Nice try at a sense of humour. You're in a UNIT offshoot. We all have spaceships here. Or parts of them.' She finished updating her patients bio signs and slapped the laptop shut, 'Besides, you're not the only one who's tried to recruit me. The Doctor's got some ties to UNIT itself. Says she can get me back in to something more challenging.' She noticed the patient sleeping soundly near Rani. 'That one usually has problems sleeping. What have you done to him?'

'I'm a biologist' shrugged The Rani. She placed her hand gently on Mayumi's arm. 'I may not have as much pull as The Doc-...as my supervisor.' She sincerely hoped she was pulling this charm etiquette off convincingly. 'But you're worth so much more than any of this and UNIT put together.' She made for the exit and smiled over her shoulder 'Let me know if I can help you.'

As she closed the door, The Rani walked to the end of the corridor towards the fire exit out of sight from the numerous security cameras overhead. She rolled up her left sleeve. Underneath was a gold bracelet covered from wrist to elbow which began to glow. She swiped her hand across her forearm which formed a pattern of energy which took shape in the form of an open doorway. She stepped in and held out her forearm. The energy trail returned to her, wrapping itself around her arm once again. As she was home, she didn't bother with the chameleon option and it glowed warmly through her lab coat which she discarded on a nearby chair placed next to a bookcase.

'So, when's she moving in?' asked the Tardis, in Reed's bemused voice.

'She needs a little more convincing.'

'It takes time' replied Tardis Reed simply, 'Though you don't have much left. 'Speshly with your energy source.'

'Which is me, yes I know' replied The Rani, irritated.

'So what's keeping you? Usually you have no problem in getting things done.'

'A..minor distraction.'

'A distraction? You don't usually get distracted babe.' The Rani closed her eyes at Reed's term of affection. 'Unless' continued Reed Tardis, 'Ah ha. You ran into _him _didn't you?'

'Her,' replied The Rani purse lipped.

'Wait, let me just get an update. Oh yeah. Hey nice incarnation, shame about the outfit, not much better than this one.' The console displayed the figure of a blonde curly haired man in a pastel patchwork coat and striped yellow trousers.

'Please switch that off. How much more energy do we have left?'

'Uh, babe it's _your_ body this crib is linked to.'

'Reed, I don't have time.'

'Okay, okay. If you don't get Mayumi to separate you from the main bio circuit engine, you're not going last longer than a couple of weeks, tops. And that doesn't include the energy for your journey to sneak back home. Your government is cottoning on to large sources of energy from your house identical to the blueprints of a new Tardis prototype. Which means we'll be in trouble either way.'

The Rani tapped through a communications list, speed reading through various details.

'You'll have to create a pretty big distraction to keep The Doctor off your trail.'

The Rani settled on one of her contacts on her communication screen. 'I'm working on it.'


End file.
